Locustella fluviatilis

Order

Family

BTO 2

BTO 5

Euring 5

Breeding Location:

Breeding Type:

Egg Colour:

Number of Eggs:

3 - 7

Incubation Days:

11 - 12

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Grass stems, leaves, and hair.

Nest Location:

Under a bush or in thick vegetation.

Migration:

Migratory

General

River Warbler: Grey-brown grass warbler with faint, grey-black line through eye, narrow, brown-buff line above eye, brown-grey mottled streaks on upper breast and throat. The belly is buff-white, and the vent has buff-white spots. Thin, medium black-grey and orange-yellow bill, and pink-brown legs. Fairly long wings and long, rounded tail. Forages for a variety of insects and small spiders by picking them from leaves and stems in dense vegetation.

Range and Habitat

River Warbler: Rare vagrant to the UK. Breeds across central and southern Europe to southwest Siberia and northwest Kazakhstan. Spends the winters in east and south Africa. Habitat includes thickets, damp woodland, sedge marshes, dense bush and scrub.

Breeding and Nesting

River Warbler: Five to six buff eggs with red-brown speckles are laid in a loose, cup next constructed with grass and leaves, and lined with soft grass and hair. The nest is built on or near the ground under a bush or in thick vegetation, and the eggs are incubated by the female for 11 to 12 days.

Foraging and Feeding

River Warbler: This grass warbler feeds on various insects and small spiders. It forages by actively moving through thick vegetation and taking prey items from the ground, stems, and leaves with its bill.

Vocalisation

River Warbler: Song is an insect-like, high-pitched "dzi-dzi-dzi-dzi". Call is a sharp, repeated "phit".

Similar Species

River Warbler: Garden Warbler is very plain and has a shorter bill. Reed Warbler is lighter with yellow-brown upperparts, plain breast, and broken white eyering.

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters
of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus)
and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante
(2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42
(Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported
by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) was established in the mid-1990 s as a cooperative project among several federal agencies to improve and
expand upon taxonomic data (known as the NODC Taxonomic Code) maintained by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA).

To find the ITIS page for a bird species go to the ITIS web site advanced search and report page at http://www.itis.gov/advanced_search.html.
You can enter the TSN or the common name of the bird. It will return the ITIS page for that bird. Another way to obtain the ITIS page is to use
the Google search engine. Enter the string ITIS followed by the taxonomic ID, for example "ITIS 178041" will return the page for the Allen's Hummingbird.